Do Contraceptives make women fat?

Considering there has not yet been a conclusive study on whether contraceptive pills make women fat or thin, what you have to do is ensure you maintain your diet plan and lifestyle, eat right, work out and have a peace of mind.

Joy Tushabe

For most women, birth control pills, vaginal rings and contraceptive skin capsules are very unlikely to affect their weight. Many women slowly gain weight over the years, whether or not they use hormonal contraception

Hormonal contraceptives include the birth control pill, contraceptive skin capsules, and contraceptive vaginal rings. They are called combined contraceptives because they include two hormones: Estrogen and progestin. Some hormonal contraceptives, such as the “mini pill” and the hormone-releasing contraceptive coil, contain only one hormone.

For many women, hormonal contraceptives are the most convenient form of birth control because they do not have to think about it before or during sex and they are in control of it themselves. The pill is the most widely used form of birth control in many countries, Uganda being one of them.

Women who stop taking the pill often do so because they think it has been causing them to gain weight – which often, is psychological. Clinical studies in this area have always contradicted each other with some women saying they have gained weight and others saying they have lost weight.

This is why weight gain and weight loss have both been listed as possible side effects on the product information of hormonal contraceptives. When you put on weight while taking contraceptive pills, it is most likely; Fluid retention, increase in muscle tissue or maybe peace of mind that you don’t have to worry about unplanned contraception.

Theoretically, hormonal contraceptives could contribute to weight gain if they led to fluid retention and increased body fat because sometimes they are believed to increase appetite. But it’s not conclusive to say whether that’s true because women who don’t use hormonal contraceptives also gain weight as they age naturally due to many different reasons.

Considering there has not yet been a conclusive study on whether contraceptive pills make women fat or thin, what you have to do is ensure you maintain your diet plan and lifestyle, eat right, work out and have a peace of mind.

You definitely do want to enjoy your sex life with no worries of unwanted pregnancy and contraceptives are the way to go so until there is concrete scientific evidence to back these claims, be assured that contraceptive pills are safe and are here to ensure your good life is not interrupted by unplanned conception.

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Sauti is a Swahili word that means sound. The SautiPlus campaign is a unique approach that has been designed by Reach A Hand, Uganda to embrace the growing and innovative technologies in social media, radio and TV, mobile phones, print and digital media to address sexual reproductive health and rights issues that affect young people in and out of school ranging from HIV/AIDS, relationships, life skills, teenage pregnancy, child marriages and sexuality among others.